USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)
The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) is the second Federation starship to carry that name. It was constructed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards and commissioned at the Earth Spacedock facility in 2285. History Technical info Externally, the Enterprise-A was virtually identical to the refit [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|USS Enterprise]], destroyed several months prior to the launch of the Enterprise-A. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) The bridge was in its customary location on Deck 1. At least two different modules were used during the ship's service. They were the first bridges on a ship named Enterprise to almost completely use touch-screen interfaces. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) :Despite the fact that the ''Enterprise-A had used all touch-interfaces in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, director Nicholas Meyer insisted that some of the consoles on the bridge be fitted with physical dials and gauges for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.'' The torpedo bay was on Deck 13. It was much more automated than on the previous Enterprise, and the torpedo room itself was smaller and enclosed. No hand phaser could be fired aboard the ship at a level above stun without an alarm sounding. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) The shuttlebay was located at the rear of the ship's engineering section. Unlike its predecessor, the shuttlebay was a separate and distinct area from the cargo bay. The ship had at least two (possibly five) shuttlecraft, the ''Galileo'' and the ''Copernicus''. Normally, a tractor beam guided the shuttle to a landing. A large net barracade could be erected to capture an incoming shuttle which was landing too fast or otherwise disabled. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) Officers had crew quarters not unlike ones on the previous Enterprise. Enlisted crewmembers were required to bunk together. As many as eight crewmembers were assigned to a room, each assigned a storage locker. Chimes sounded at the top of every hour. Meals were prepared in a galley, although there appeared to be primitive replicators onboard the ship. The Enterprise-A had a vertical warp core similar to that of the ''Galaxy'' class of seventy years later. The core could be accessed through Main Engineering on Deck 15. An isolation door could be brought down to separate the core from the rest of the ship. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) There was a crew lounge at the front of the ship which contained several maritime relics, including a steering wheel from a sailing vessel inscribed with the ship's motto, "to boldly go where no man has gone before." An emergency transmitter was also located in the lounge. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) The officers had a private dining hall in the saucer section, which was often used to entertain guests. There were several paintings in the room. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) :This set was a reuse of the [[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)|USS ''Enterprise-D]] conference lounge. No windows like the ones in the set are on the Enterprise model. However, the room was shown destroyed when the torpedo penetrated the saucer section during the battle with Chang's ship, indicating that the room may be on the interior of the ship and that the windows showed a simulated starfield.'' The brig was located in the bowels of the engineering hull. It was designed to be escape-proof, certified so by Captain Spock. The turbolift shafts were triangular in shape. In addition to the normal corridors, there were full-height Jefferies tubes in the engineering hull. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) :One of the oddest (and perhaps most embarrassing) errors occurs in ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy rocket past 78 decks while in the turboshaft, numbered in increasing order from the bottom of the ship to the top, when the Enterprise-A model has about 21 decks and the much larger Galaxy class Enterprise-D of Star Trek: The Next Generation only has 42.'' In service The Enterprise-A was launched at the order of the Federation Council in appreciation of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew's efforts to prevent the Whale Probe from devastating Earth. The crew initially thought they were going to be assigned to the [[USS Excelsior|USS Excelsior]], but the new Enterprise was soon revealed, parked behind the Excelsior. The time passed between the previous Enterprise and the Enterprise-A was too short to warrant a complete rebuild, therefore the ship was renamed from it's old kinsake, the USS Yorktown (as referenced below). The crew took their stations and left Spacedock on a shakedown cruise. (Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) The shakedown did not proceed as planned, and the Enterprise limped back to Spacedock for several weeks of repair under the supervision of Captain Scott. Although its warp drive was working perfectly, half the doors on the ship were broken and several control interfaces did not work. The transporter was also nonfunctional, requiring shuttles to be used. Before the repairs were complete, the ship was called into duty in order to intervene in a kidnapping situation on Nimbus III. The ship was subsequently commandeered by the rogue Vulcan Sybok, who ordered the ship to the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, in order to pursue the mystical Sha Ka Ree. During the return of Sybok to the ship aboard the Galileo, Commander Hikaru Sulu was forced to crash the shuttle into the Enterprise landing bay, as the ship was pursued by a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, commanded by Klaa, and there was no time for a regular landing. The Bird-of-Prey followed the Enterprise to the center of the galaxy. The crew was too involved with Sybok's visit to the planetoid found there and did not notice the Klingon vessel enter sensor range. It caught the Enterprise off guard and disabled the ship before it had a chance to retaliate. However, Klingon ambassador Koord, rescued from Nimbus III, relieved Captain Klaa and ordered the ship to stand down. The Klingon crew was later invited to a reception aboard the ship following the return of the Enterprise to Kirk's control and the discovery that Sha Ka Ree was a myth. The brig was also damaged during the mission, as Captain Scott blew a hole in the back wall to free Captain Kirk, Spock, and Dr. McCoy. (Star Trek V: The Final Frontier) :Another oddity in ''Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the Enterprise's trip to the center of the galaxy, which should have taken many years but seemed to occur in less than a day.'' Starfleet began a fleetwide research project into the investigation of gaseous planetary anomalies in the early 2290s. The Enterprise-A was one of several Federation starships to be outfitted with advanced equipment for their study. In 2293, the Enterprise-A was due to be retired along with most of its command crew. However, it was pressed back into service for one last mission as an escort for Klingon chancellor Gorkon during the initial stages of the Klingon Peace Accords. The ship rendezvoused with the Klingon flagship ''Kronos One'' and was to follow it to Earth. Unfortunately, a joint Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan conspiracy had an operative, Lieutenant Valeris, aboard the ship. She participated in a plan to implicate the Enterprise and Captain Kirk as rogue assailants in Gorkon's murder, with the goal of derailing the peace process. The Enterprise appeared to fire two photon torpedoes at Kronos One, and in the chaos two spacesuited Starfleet officers beamed aboard, assassinating Gorkon. Valeris altered the ship records to make it seem as if two torpedoes had been fired and also found two crewmembers, Burke and Samno, to act as the assassins. The torpedoes actually came from a cloaked Bird-of-Prey directly below the Enterprise, which had been modified to fire while cloaked. Kirk and Dr. McCoy were arrested and tried for the murder, and sentenced to life imprisonment on the penal colony Rura Penthe. Valeris also provided Kirk's log entries from the Enterprise to the Klingon co-conspirators to further implicate Kirk. The Enterprise was ordered back to Earth, but Spock ignored orders and initiated an investigation aboard the ship. He discovered evidence which linked Valeris to the conspiracy, despite her best efforts to sabotage the investigation. The Enterprise then entered Klingon space, masquerading as the freigher Ursva and rescued Kirk and McCoy. Spock mind melded with Valeris and learned more about the conspiracy, including details of the Bird-of-Prey and names of those involved. Captain Sulu aboard the USS Excelsior provided Kirk with the new location of the peace conference, and the two ships warped to Khitomer in order to prevent a second assassination of the Federation President and the new Klingon chancellor, Azetbur. General Chang was waiting in orbit with his Bird-of-Prey, however, and the Enterprise was attacked upon arrival. The starship was seriously damaged and suffered a hull breach through its saucer section. The Excelsior, too, was helpless against the cloaked ship. Fortunately, Spock, McCoy, and Uhura devised a plan to use a photon torpedo equipped with sensors capable of tracking ionization from the Bird-of-Prey impulse engines. It successfully hit Chang's vessel, knocking it out of the cloak and leaving it vulnerable to further torpedo volleys from the Enterprise and the Excelsior. Following the destruction of the Bird-of-Prey, Enterprise and Excelsior crew beamed down to the Khitomer Conference and apprehended the conspirators, preventing the assassination. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country) Following the Khitomer situation, the Enterprise and its crew were retired. The next USS Enterprise, the ''Excelsior'' class NCC-1701-B, was launched only a few months later. (Star Trek: Generations) Command Crew *commanding officer (CO) **Captain James T. Kirk *first officer/executive officer (XO) and science officer **Captain Spock *chief medical officer (CMO) **Commander Leonard McCoy *chief engineer **Captain Montgomery Scott *helmsman **Commander Hikaru Sulu (2285-2290) **Lieutenant Valeris (2293) *navigator **Commander Pavel Chekov *communications officer **Commander Uhura Background Information The Enterprise-A was a reuse of the refit Enterprise model built for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The ship was designed by Andrew Probert and Richard Taylor, partly based on Matt Jefferies and Mike Minor's design sketches for Star Trek: Phase II. Other artists who worked on the refit design were Joe Jennings, Douglas Trumbull, and Harold Michelson. Michelson also designed the sets for the first film, which were altered to become those of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The bridge seen in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home was a simple redress of the existing bridge from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. It was painted white and the lighting scheme was slightly altered. In addition, Okudagrams now replaced the gauges and dials formerly seen on the ship. Only the portions of the bridge seen on film were modified; the rest of the bridge was left unchanged to save time. By Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, most of the movie Enterprise sets had been recycled to become the Enterprise-D of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The bridge had been irrevocably modified as various Starfleet bridges seen throughout the series, including the Enterprise-D battle bridge, and also became several science labs and alien interiors. A new bridge was constructed under supervision of production designer Herman Zimmerman, who wanted to show a transition to the TNG era by introducing carpet and warmer tones to the bridge. The turbolift alcoves were the only parts saved from the previous set, as they were removed during TNG's second season. Other Enterprise-D sets were reused for the film, specifically sickbay, the transporter room, and the corridors, in order to save money. Unfortunately, much of the signage and graphics were left in place, and TNG style door labels and control panels can be seen on the sets. The new bridge was reused in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country for both the Enterprise and the Excelsior, with some modifications. Director Nick Meyer wanted to give the vessels a much more militaristic feel, and incorporated metal flooring and some tactile control surfaces. Enterprise-D sets were used for engineering, sickbay, the transporter room, the officers' mess, Kirk's and Spock's quarters, and the corridors, but they were disguised better for this film, undergoing several changes. This explains why some of the TNG sets were noticeably altered at the start of the fifth season. The bridge set was placed in storage at the end of production. It was later turned into the Enterprise-B bridge and Amargosa observatory for Star Trek: Generations, the Excelsior again in VOY: "Flashback," and many "guest" Starfleet ships on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, including the [[USS Prometheus#USS Prometheus (NX-59650)|USS Prometheus]] (VOY: "Message in a Bottle") and the [[USS Equinox|USS Equinox]]. (VOY: "Equinox, Part I") According to Gene Roddenberry, the NCC-1701-A was not a newly constructed ship, but instead was the renamed [[USS Yorktown|USS Yorktown]], based on the fact that it was difficult to believe that Starfleet would be able to build a whole new ship in such a short time. If so, it suggests that the Yorktown, damaged during the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, was able to return to Earth in order to be repaired, refitted and finally renamed Enterprise within a relatively short timespan. Neither scenario is without its flaws, and no firm explanation has been given in canon. However, the early retirement of the Enterprise-A could be further justified if the ship had been in service for many years under another name. Other sources (Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, released shortly after Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home) cite the origin of NCC-1701-A as the U.S.S. Ti Ho, a Constitution II class starship that was to be a test bed for transwarp technology alongside the U.S.S. Excelsior. Upon saving the Earth from the whale probe, James T. Kirk and the crew of the late Starship Enterprise were placed under arrest. The Federation Council deliberated the situation, and upon reaching an agreement on how to procede ordered Starfleet to decomission the U.S.S. Ti Ho, redesignate the hull number as NCC-1701-A and rechristen the ship as the U.S.S. Enterprise. In fact, the crews in space dock were working feverishly to get the hull number painted on during the trial of James T. Kirk and crew. The Enterprise-A featured in several computer games set in the motion picture era, including Star Trek: Starfleet Command and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) de:USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A)